Nameless ≫ Jarchie

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Nameless belonged in the air.

He belonged above everyone else, glancing down at life as if he owned it. He had a grace and beauty about him that screamed this, but he was deaf to that fact. He was blind to the fact that his presence was as powerful and brilliantly confusing as nature itself. He was so clueless to the fact that he was special, for lack of a better word, and it pained Archie to the core. It wasn't fair, he decided, that Nameless would never get to see how he looked standing at the top of the Space Needle and glancing over the town with an air of pride and protectiveness, or how he looked staring at the cotton clouds and crisp blue sky on the airplane to the unknown.

It wasn't fair that Nameless would never let himself fly, because he felt as if belonging meant to be grounded.

Archie didn't do much but stare at the boy throughout the plane ride. No Name's eyes were glued to the window on his right, his body twisted and leant towards the tiny view of a tiny world. From time to time he'd squeeze Archie's hand whenever the redhead said something in an attempt at recognition, but they both knew he wasn't really listening. The redhead didn't mind though. He was fascinated by his boyfriend's fascination.

By the time they landed at LAX it was about 2 pm and Archie had come to the realization that this idea was actually insane. Between the two of them, they didn't have much money and as far as he was concerned it didn't seem like Nameless had a sound plan.

He had a good way of acting like it though.

Another thing that Archie realized as they were sat in the back of a dingy taxi cab was that California was nothing like Seattle. The air was different, the people were different, the sounds were different, even the smell was different. Arriving in California was like stepping out of a pool after holding your breath underwater for so long. Who knew a two hour plane ride could transport him to Candy Land?

Nameless seemed to be just as amazed by it too, if not more. He couldn't believe he grew up in a place so magical. His eyes were practically glued to every window he'd been close to so far, and as the cab rolled down the busy streets it wasn't any different. His eyes were glued to the sound of people chattering so loudly, that it was the only thing that seemed to fill his ears besides the buzz of the California sun despite it being late fall. Everything was eerily bright and bathed in sunlight, a contrast from the constant rain and grey undertones of Seattle. Nameless and California were complete opposites. Had they always been that way?

The couple spent about twenty minutes in the cab before they entered a small town with less activity and more narrow streets. Buildings and shops turned into tall houses squished together on long blocks that seemed to all tangle into each other. The scenery of Teenagers and adults turned into little kids running down sidewalks screaming old chants and games that Nameless didn't have the privilege of remembering. It was the sort of neighborhood you'd see on TV, perfect and unreal. It was the childhood Nameless always hoped he had.

Lately, however, he'd been hoping his childhood was awful so he could feel less guilty. Truth is, he was knowingly visiting the city he grew up in just for fun, and part of that was really selfish of him. He had a whole family out there who hadn't hugged him in years, said 'I love you' in years, whispered 'goodnight' in years. He could be less than a 100 feet away from his family who had been tainted with grief since his disappearance and he wasn't even planning on searching for them like how they attempted to search for him. It was selfish. It was cruel and selfish, he knew that, but he had always been selfish.

It was much easier to pretend that his father was a raging alcoholic and his mom was off who knows where with who knows who most of the time so he could feel less guilty about letting himself have closure but denying his family the same thing.